Eleventh Circuit: Joan Simring v. GreenSky, LLC

 District court remand to state court under the local controversy exception to the class action statute is reviewable despite the ouster clause of the statute, since the remand is neither for a lack of subject matter jurisdiction nor due to a procedural defect.  The appeal didn't require an authorization of permissive appeal, as the remand order is sufficiently final.

Despite the stipulated limit to the damages by the lead plaintiff, the deft's estimate of relief across the class prevails, since the lead plaintiff has no authority to bind the relief granted the class; the relief therefore exceeds the limit for the local controversy exception.

For purposes of determining residency of class members, only the explicit definition of the class can limit the class to a certain state, and the plaintiff has the burden of establishing the required fraction of in-state class members.

Joan Simring v. GreenSky, LLC

Eleventh Circuit: Southern Coal Corporation, et al v. Drummond Coal Sales, Inc.

 District court properly considered industry usage in determining whether a certain term was ambiguous, ultimately basing its judgment upon finding both the specific referent and the industry benchmark to be reasonable readings.

Agreement not susceptible of reformation, since the claimed error was the mutual mistake of sophisticated parties, so there's no basis for saying that the present agreement doesn't reflect the original intentions of the agreement.

District court abused its discretion in denying fees, as the movant prevailed on their central claim.

Counter-party's refusal to proceed under an industry benchmark once the specific rate-setting mechanism ceased to exist wasn't an anticipatory repudiation, since they were still performing their unaffected obligations under the contract. Since the dispute went to pricing and not the special purpose of the contract, neither was it a material breach of the contract.

CONCURRING IN PART, CONCURRING IN THE JUDGMENT:

The question on fees isn't whether a party was a prevailing party, but whether, under the contract, a party was a defaulting party.

Southern Coal Corporation, et al v. Drummond Coal Sales, Inc.

Ninth Circuit: USA v. Volodymyr Kvashuk

 Proof that an IP associated with the house was used to access relevant email and crypto-coin sites, combined with affidavit statement that financial and personal records are often kept at the home, was sufficient probable cause for a search of the house in an online fraud investigation.  The fact that the fraudulent transactions were committed before moving there isn't dispositive of whether there was likely to be evidence at the house.

A 15-20 month gap between the thefts and the affidavit didn't make the affidavit claims stale, given the nature of computer memory.

Discrepancy in URL TLD on the warrant affidavit was inconsequential.

Personally issued website development test accounts sufficiently identify their authorized users to be the basis for a charge of aggravated identity theft.

Deft's immigration status wasn't critical to establishing a defense for the use of crypto-coin; court did not abuse its discretion in excluding it.

Juror's work with the same large corporate division was insufficient for a claim of implied bias, since the fact patterns at issue in the trial weren't similar to the events of their employment.

USA v. Volodymyr Kvashuk

Eighth Circuit: Barry Segal v. Metropolitan Council

 Although a violation of the transit agency's regulations might not suffice to establish a claim under the discrimination statute, the violations here presented a genuine issue of material fact for trial.

Barry Segal  v.  Metropolitan Council

Eighth Circuit: Scott Gustafson v. Bi-State Development Agency

 Concession at the motion for judgment on the pleadings that the plaintiff wasn't seeking to enforce a private right of action under the statute judicially estops plaintiff from making such a claim at the motion for summary judgment.

 Frustrating but isolated incidents of inability to access services don't support a discrimination claim under the statute.

Earlier denial of motion to amend the complaint isn't automatically raised in an appeal of subsequent denial of summary judgment.

Scott Gustafson  v.  Bi-State Development Agency

Seventh Circuit: Indigo Old Corp., Inc. v. Thomas Guido

 Since the guarantor's obligation was part of an obligation subordinated to a second debt, the lender can't proceed against the guarantor until the second debt is retired and the subordinated obligation comes due.  Under state law, the fact that the debt was subordinated by a contemporaneous instrument means that the subordination didn't count as a modification of the guaranteed obligation that would trigger the guarantor's obligation.

Indigo Old Corp., Inc. v.   Thomas Guido

Seventh Circuit: Alhadji Bayon v. Marshall Berkebile

 As the facts still in dispute bear on the objective reasonableness of the force used by the police officers to arrest the plaintiff, the appellate court has no jurisdiction over an interlocutory claim arising from a denial of qualified immunity,

Alhadji Bayon v.  Marshall Berkebile

Seventh Circuit: USA v. Darrick Vallodolid

In that the political beliefs expressed about immigration policy and discriminatory law enforcement were not exclusively rooted in the venirepersons' ethnicity, their removal from the pool of jurors wasn't constitutionally impermissible.

Given the small size of the sample, statistical analysis and disparate impact analysis alone is insufficient to establish discriminatory nature of the strikes.

As the eyewitness testimony was riddled with inconsistencies beyond the exculpatory ones, it was for the finder of fact to determine its credibility.

Sufficient evidence to find that the crime was gang-related, even absent formal affiliation with the gang, in that it furthered the activities of the former gang.

Sufficient evidence of the conspiracy to admit the statement of the co-conspirator.  Statement indicating possession of drugs in the house admitted not for the truth of the matter asserted, but to establish that the robbers believed there to be drugs there.

Sufficient evidence for conspiracy, given the customary procedures of the gangs and the defts' involvement with them.  Sufficient circumstantial evidence to establish drug quantities.

Federal RICO proceeding wasn't required to incorporate state predicate offense's procedural requirement of bifurcated penalty phase.

USA v.  Darrick Vallodolid

Fifth Circuit: USA v. Singletary

Given that the deft conspired to supply firearms to drug dealers, the conspiracy among the drug dealers to sell drugs is distinct from the conspiracy to supply them with firearms, and therefore a valid predicate for the increased sentence.

The distinction between these conspiracies also serves to separate the two relevant sentencing factors, so that they're not double-counting the same offense.

USA v. Singletary

Second Circuit: Kakar v. USCIS

 Agency's ruling was arbitrary and capricious in that it didn't explain how petitioner's conduct would have been illegal in the United States, given that there is a genuine and reasonable dispute as to the context of the events, and also as to the affirmative defense of duress.  

(Although petitioner had challenged for lack of substantial evidence, vacated and remanded to agency as arbitrary and capricious.)

Kakar v. USCIS

First Circuit: Williams v. Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A.

 Although the District Court excluded the expert testimony, a precise reading of the testimony establishes that the plaintiff hasn't met their burden on causation; the question is not if the fractured weld caused the accident, but whether the defect in the weld caused the accident.

Williams v. Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A.

First Circuit: Puerto Rico Farm Credit, ACA v. Eco-Parque del Tanama Corp.

Statute requires that the lender attempt a restructuring of the loan obligations only where the restructuring ultimately proves less costly than foreclosure; borrower's inability to demonstrate means for a satisfactory repayment removed the requirement.

Under the statute, a lender must consider the restructuring plan's credibility and viability, and need not accept a plan that the counterparty can't perform.

Putting forward a credible plan for restructuring is a threshold requirement for challenging the lender's estimated foreclosure costs.

Puerto Rico Farm Credit, ACA v. Eco-Parque del Tanama Corp.

Federal Circuit: Veteran Warriors v. Secretary of Veterans Affairs

 Statutory term is sufficiently vague to justify deference to the agency, as it is silent as to whether certain services need to be delivered in person, as opposed to being provided remotely.  Parallel statute distinguishing the two speaks to the ambiguity of the first statute.  

Agency's position is justified by the need for a clear rule, and is a reasonable policy choice; prior silence on the question doesn't establish that this is a reversal by the agency.  

Although the statutory context clarifies the definition of "serious injury," the statute is still sufficiently ambiguous to require deference to the agency.

Although the agency's new definition was a change from prior interpretations, it was a reasoned change that accounted for settled expectations, and not the sort of sharp break with previous readings that would justify less deference to the agency's final interpretation.

Statute defining incapacity as being unable to accomplish certain daily tasks is sufficiently vague to justify deference to the agency's reading, since it doesn't distinguish occasional incapacity from total incapacity.  Prior fee schedule implying a gradation of capacity doesn't make for a change in policy, since it refers to the amount of assistance provided, not the beneficiary's abilities unaided.

Agency erred in imposing a single definition of "in need of supervision" where the law describes two degrees of necessary supervision; additionally, the medical requirements read into the term are not logically dictated by the statute's mandate.

Law's requirement that the compensation levels be tied to geographic areas and creation of a program for assisting veterans abroad did not define the eligibility of extraterritorial caregivers; the agency's interpretation barring such caregivers is reasonable.

Agency's tying of caregiver compensation to federal civil service pay levels was a reasonable one; nothing in the act required that the compensation be linked to private sector salaries.

Agency's definition of the inability to sustain life in the community was a reasonable one; it incorporated the statutory factors.

Veteran Warriors v. Secretary of Veterans Affairs

DC Circuit: Jane Doe v. SEC

 Although the list of examples in the statute isn't explicitly an exclusive one, deference to the authoritative, considered interpretation of the agency within its competency asserting the exclusivity of the list is warranted.  Expressio unius would require an exclusive list.  

CONCURRENCE:

When a statute lists three means for accomplishing something, there are three means of accomplishing something under the statute.  Expressio unius applies.

Jane Doe v. SEC

DC Circuit: USA v. Nizar Trabelsi

 Pretrial orders denying a double jeopardy claim arising from the circumstances of extradition are sufficiently final for the purposes of appeal.

By the terms of the treaty and the act of state doctrine, the courts should primarily defer to the actions of the foreign executive rather than the actions of the foreign judiciary.

Foreign court's determination of the limits of the foreign executive's power under the order did not interpret the executive's decision or say that he was compelled to follow the instructions of the order.

Foreign executive's transmission of letter outlining terms of the extradition was not an act of state where the transmission of the letter was mandated by the foreign judiciary, and the letter notes that it is not necessarily the position of the foreign state.

CONCURRENCE:

A private right arising from a treaty can be forfeited when not timely raised.

CONCURRENCE:

Although the plain text of the treaty imposes no double jeopardy obligations on the extraditing state, an earlier holding in the case established that it imposed reciprocal obligations as to its principles; making this determination should have been the first consideration, as it implicates US separation of powers, with the courts constrained from reading general principles of international law into the terms of a treaty.

USA v. Nizar Trabelsi

Ninth Circuit: Craig Ross v. Ronald Davis

 Felony murder constitutional challenge to sentence was appropriately exhausted in state habeas, since despite the state habeas holding to the contrary, petitioner's filings on direct appeal discussed the relevant standard and sought relief.

State jury instructions on aiding and abetting didn't preclude the subsequent capital sentence, because although they didn't require the specific intent necessary under federal law, the separate finding of special circumstances established the necessary intent.

Petitioner had sufficient involvement in the crimes and evinced sufficient reckless disregard of the risk of death.

State court's determinations on ineffective assistance of counsel were not contrary to or an unreasonable application of the federal standard; defense counsel's limited investigation of mitigation evidence wasn't dispositive, as it related entirely to early childhood, and defense closing contained many mitigating inferences from the evidence; the latter are appropriately considered in a Strickland claim.

Craig Ross v. Ronald Davis

Ninth Circuit: Laidlaw's Harley Davidson Sales v. Commisioner

Law requiring initial determination of tax assessment to be approved by a supervisor prior to enforcement of the penalty doesn't preclude pre-approval notice to the taxpayer that the government will enforce the penalty; the supervisor's approval must occur before the actual enforcement, but sufficiently in advance that the supervisor still has the discretion to withhold approval.

DISSENT:

By the plain language, the initial determination must be approved before it becomes the basis for agency action.

Laidlaw's Harley Davidson Sales v. Commisioner

Fifth Circuit: La Union del Pueblo Entero v. Harris Cty Repub.

 As the motion was timely and the impaired interest might not be sufficiently protected by the state's defense of the law, partisan political committees had a right to intervene in litigation challenging an election reform law.

La Union del Pueblo Entero v. Harris Cty Repub.

First Circuit: OK Resorts of Puerto Rico, Inc. v. Charles Taylor Consulting Mexico, S.A. de C.V.

 Court did not abuse its discretion in granting a motion to dismiss well after the scheduled close of discovery, given the absence of supplementary filings from the non-movant.  

OK Resorts of Puerto Rico, Inc. v. Charles Taylor Consulting Mexico, S.A. de C.V.

First Circuit: US v. Agramonte-Quezada

 Absent a showing of bad faith or prejudice, discovery delay in producing dog training records and logs did not require the trial judge to grant a continuance, as there were other discovery materials that might have opened the door to a challenging of the canine evidence.

Evidence of a prior canine indication was more probative than prejudicial, since the switching of vehicles in the interval and the deft's awareness of the narcotics traffic spoke to a continuing plan or scheme and rebutted the claim that he had been an unwitting courier.

Law enforcement testimony as to the usual trafficking operation wasn't impermissible overview testimony, as it came at the end of the trial, the witness was insulated from the particular case, and didn't reference any particulars.  Lay testimony of this nature gleaned from on-the-job experience is helpful to the finder of fact, and therefore permissible.

Court did not abuse its discretion in proceeding to sentencing rather than considering competency; the determination had been made earlier,and nothing in the colloquy prior to sentencing indicated sufficient incapacity. 

US v. Agramonte-Quezada